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<h1><a href="https://archiveofourown.org/works/25105252">Blue Heart</a> by <a class='authorlink' href='https://archiveofourown.org/users/bushViperCutie/pseuds/bushViperCutie'>bushViperCutie</a></h1>

<table class="full">

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>'What Now?' young!sev One Shots [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Category:</b></td><td>Harry Potter - J. K. Rowling</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Genre:</b></td><td>Fluff, Ice Cream, Painting, Reader-Insert, Summer, Summer Vacation, Young Severus Snape</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Language:</b></td><td>English</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Status:</b></td><td>Completed</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Published:</b></td><td>2020-07-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Updated:</b></td><td>2020-07-06</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Packaged:</b></td><td>2021-05-04 07:00:58</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Rating:</b></td><td>General Audiences</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Warnings:</b></td><td>No Archive Warnings Apply</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Chapters:</b></td><td>1</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Words:</b></td><td>3,654</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Publisher:</b></td><td>archiveofourown.org</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Story URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/works/25105252</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Author URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/users/bushViperCutie/pseuds/bushViperCutie</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Summary:</b></td><td><div class="userstuff">
              <p>A week into summer break and you are finally able to hang with your boyfriend, Severus Snape, and surprise him with an invitation to your house while your parents are away.</p><p>Part One: What Now?<br/>Part Two: Finding Rocco</p>
            </div></td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Relationships:</b></td><td>Severus Snape/Reader, Severus Snape/You</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series:</b></td><td>'What Now?' young!sev One Shots [3]</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Series URL:</b></td><td>https://archiveofourown.org/series/1819177</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Comments:</b></td><td>2</td></tr>

<tr><td><b>Kudos:</b></td><td>60</td></tr>

</table>

<a name="section0001"><h2>Blue Heart</h2></a>
<div class="story"><div class="fff_chapter_notes fff_head_notes"><b>Author's Note:</b><blockquote class="userstuff">
      <p>This is the third part to What Now?, requested by someone on AO3 :)</p>
    </blockquote></div><div class="userstuff module">
    
    <p>—–</p><p>(Y/n) = your name</p><p>(L/n) = last name</p><p>—–</p>
<h1>
  <b>~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~ * ~~~</b>
</h1><p>The day was hot and the small bit of shadow the tall bushes gave was not enough to keep out the sun’s invading rays. There was the sound of laughter nearby and the smell of barbecued steak a few houses away. The street was relatively empty, with the exception of a car every few minutes. Ice cream melted of the cone and onto the dirt and roots of the shrub that was currently providing enough privacy to hide behind.</p><p>“Severus,” you laughed as your boyfriend held you close and kissed your neck, “My ice cream is melting!”</p><p>You heard him chuckle as he trailed more kisses up to your lips, kissing you harder and pressing you into him, unable to withstand any amount of distance. There was a tall fence behind you and a tall bush in front, meaning the only other being witnessing his show of affection was a small songbird, also hiding from the summer heat. He moved one hand down your back and the other up your thigh, trying to keep you too distracted to complain.</p><p>He finally pulled away from you, humming quietly as he licked his lips, “(Y/n)…” he breathed out.</p><p>You smiled and looked into his dark eyes as they stared back into yours. His hair was pulled behind his ears for once, and you could see his perfect smile he so rarely showed. It had only been a week since school ended, and this was the first chance Severus had to get away and visit you.</p><p>“Severus… You made my ice cream melt,” you pushed him back playfully, but he kept your hand held to his chest.</p><p>“You’ll get a new one,” he came forward again with the intention to continue his displays of affection.</p><p>“We can’t stay behind this bush… no matter how secluded it is. It’s for apparating purposes only, not hang out ones,” you tried keeping a serious face but being so close to him made you want to smile.</p><p>He nodded and stepped back, “Well we can’t go anywhere else… Unless you know some other hidden spot – ”</p><p>“I do. It’s called my house and you’ll find it provides a surprising amount of privacy from the outside world,” you laughed.</p><p>He frowned, “No houses. We agreed not to meet each other’s parents… yet.”</p><p>The ice cream was as good as gone and so you dropped the cone and wiped your hand on a leaf as best you could, “That’s why I asked you over today. My parents will be gone for three days – they’re invited to a wedding and I convinced them to let me stay home since I don’t even know their friends.”</p><p>Severus’ eyes twinkled with mischief and his smile was back on his face, “Are they gone? Now?”</p><p>“That’s what I was trying to tell you before you attacked me with your lips!” you giggled and pulled him in closer, grabbing his hand tight. “Shall I apparate us?”</p><p>“Yes! Please yes.”</p><p>…</p><p>You opened your eyes and leaned over your desk as your stomach settled after what felt like a ride in a tornado. You turned and expected Severus to be standing behind you, but instead found him looking through everything you had out on display. You cleared your throat, but his attention stayed on the fine details of your room.</p><p>“And you call me nosy,” you laughed.</p><p>“I’ve never been in anyone else’s room…”</p><p>He rarely talked about himself unless it had to do with classes or magic, and every hint he gave to his past, broke your heart worse than the last.  He stood very awkwardly like he wasn’t sure if he was allowed to take up any room, and swept his eyes across all four walls until they landed on yours.</p><p>“Well I’m glad you’re in mine,” you stood and inched closer, “Very glad.” You kissed his nose and then pulled him in by his shirt, quickly wrapping your arms around his neck and sliding your tongue between his lips. If it hadn’t been for the ice cream melting all over your hand outside, you would have encouraged every racy touch with an equally self-indulgent one.</p><p>He hummed and smiled, sliding his hands down to your lower back. You were about to push him back onto your bed when you heard a familiar meow from behind him. Severus turned around and picked up your cat, scratching behind his ear and sitting on your bed, looking a lot more comfortable now than before.</p><p>“Are you missing Hogwarts too?” Severus set your cat down. “So… The whole house? To ourselves?”</p><p>“Yes, including all the ice cream,” you turned around and opened the door, heading downstairs into the kitchen.</p><p>By the time you heard the creaking of the middle step, you had already filled a bowl to replace the ice cream lost outside and sat at the table waiting for Severus. His pace was slow as he came down the stairs, much like that of a new cat in an unfamiliar home.</p><p>“Come sit down, I’m happy to share my ice cream with you,” you kicked out a chair for him. “Let’s talk activities… Obviously cuddle and spend time in bed, then maybe in our free time we can bake something? Attempt our hands on some homemade pizza? Oh! We can make a fort and sleep inside!”</p><p>“(L/n), we aren’t children,” he shook his head and sat down at the table finally, after looking around the kitchen. “All that sounds fine. I’ll do anything you want me to do.”</p><p>“Are you hungry?”</p><p>Before he could shake his head, his stomach growled. He crossed his arms and looked away, “A bit.”</p><p>…</p><p>“Stop eating the cheese!” you pulled the plate away from Severus, who sat on a chair facing you.</p><p>You had laid out cheeses, sliced meats, lettuce, tomato, and some condiments out on the table like some sandwich shops had. The bread he had picked out was in the oven, toasting to perfection, while you spooned some pickle slices into a glass cup – mostly for yourself by the look on his disgusted face.</p><p>“Can I pick from any of these? What if I only want cheese?”</p><p>You knew he was trying to push your buttons since you always got annoyed at his dinner choices whenever you asked over owl post and he responded. “You can have anything and everything. Except just cheese and bread. You can’t live off that.”</p><p>He slouched back, “You’d be surprised,” he mumbled.</p><p>You rolled your eyes and opened the oven, taking out the toasted bread. You placed them on plates and sat down next to him, handing him his. The next few minutes consisted of you putting your sandwich together and encouraging him to put more on his. Finally, the two sandwiches were done and he was about to take a bite out of his when you had remembered something crucial.</p><p>“Wait!” you got up and rushed to a top cabinet and took down a bag of crisps, “I forgot about these.”</p><p>Severus rolled his eyes and bit down anyways. “Why would you want to get stabbed while you eat?”</p><p>…</p><p>The plates were empty and all the unused food was back in their containers, all that was left was to do the dishes. Severus placed both plates in the sink and began washing them by hand.</p><p>“Just use magic.”</p><p>He looked down at the sink and shook his head, “You do it.”</p><p>You shrugged, “Scourgify.”</p><p>The plates started cleaning and bubbles floated up, popped, and splashed back down. Severus dried his hands on his shirt and watched you curiously as you stepped back towards the stairs, turned on your heels and ran to your room yelling, “Race you!”</p><p>“(Y/n)!”</p><p>You flung yourself onto your bed and crawled under the covers as Severus apparated into the room, “Cheater!”</p><p>He smiled and leapt onto the bed, pulling the covers down and forcing himself inside as you struggled to move over. Finally the commotion was over and you could easily put your arms around him as he pulled his wand out to close the door and window curtain – despite no one being home and being on the second floor with no neighboring house able to look inside.</p><p>He sat up and cast several charms to cool the sheets as your combined body heat elevated the overall temperature. It was cold now, and you found yourself pressing closer into him.</p><p>“Are you doing that on purpose?”</p><p>He looked at you very seriously and dropped his voice low, “Yes, (Y/n), I purposely made the covers several degrees too cold as a ploy to get closer to you,” he scoffed, but his tiny smile betrayed him.</p><p>“Good thing it happened though, or we would have been forced to take off our clothes if it got too hot.”</p><p>His smile faded and for a split second he glanced over at his wand, “Right.”</p><p>You bit back a giggle and pressed him down on his back and brushed his long hair away to rest your head on his shoulder, yawning as the summer heat and full belly drained the rest of your energy for the day. You opened your mouth to say something when his soft snores caught your attention. You looked up and kissed his chin before closing your eyes as well, breathing him in and feeling his chest rise and fall under your hand.</p><p>…</p><p>After a while, your hearing focused on the turning of pages, slow and rhythmic. You opened your eyes and squinted at a shadowy figure hunched over your desk. Severus’ wand was stuck in your pencil holder shining bright enough to work as a reading light.</p><p>You rubbed your eyes and sat up, stretching and yawning as you looked at the time. “I can’t believe you left me asleep for so long.”</p><p>“Sorry,” he said quietly.</p><p>You pushed the sheets away and made your way over, seeing he was turning the pages of one of your art books that usually sat collecting dust on the shelf above next to your paint cans. The book had been an attempt by your mother to apologize about some stupid argument she never got the point of. She had found a book on ‘divination through paint’ and what brush strokes and figures meant about your future and given you that to make up for storming out on the argument. You had taken up painting for a month last summer and like always, she had tried to erase your fight with a new book and insisted you hone in on your magical skills with it as a show of misplaced support.</p><p>“I haven’t even looked at that one yet… I doubt its any good,” you ran your hand through his hair, undoing knots from the nap. “My Mum’s always getting me weird books like that. Divination was her favorite subject and thinks it must be mine too.”</p><p>“Why haven’t you read it?” he closed the book to the front page, where your mother had scribbled out a note.</p><p>You laughed, “I don’t really have the time to spend on reading nonsense books. I really wish she wouldn’t do stuff like that… It’s really annoying.”</p><p>“It’s annoying when your mum gives you gifts?” Severus looked up then, with distant eyes and furrowed brows.</p><p>You took your hands back and crossed your arms. “It’s not a gift… I mean it was but not really. She doesn’t care about what I’m actually interested in.”</p><p>“How does this show she doesn’t care? She gave you a book on art and it even says here: ‘Because of your current obsession in art, I hope this helps’ and then she left a heart,” Severus stood up from the desk chair and turned away. “Sounds like she cares.”</p><p>“You don’t know the meaning behind her words – ”</p><p>He turned around to face you, leaning in with ferocity, “You like art. She gives you this book to help you. And then you put it on your shelf and ignore it while thinking she doesn’t care. It sounds like YOU don’t know the meaning behind her words.”</p><p>“Trust me. Severus. That book doesn’t mean that. It was a dumb attempt at getting me to forgive her for something.”</p><p>“‘Something’? What something?”</p><p>You scowled even harder, knowing exactly how you were about to come across, “I can’t remember the exact thing it was about. She just wasn’t understanding what I was saying on purpose.”</p><p>“Was she yelling at you? No? Just an argument then? You can’t even remember what it was about and you still sound like you hate this book because of it. All I’m saying is you obviously don’t know what it looks like to not care. And this isn’t it!” he stood up straight, his eyes cast in shadows.</p><p>You scoffed, “You don’t know what you’re talking about. Now put my book back,” you scowled.</p><p>His cold eyes stayed on yours, “…Fine.”</p><p>He picked up the book and slammed it onto the shelf above so hard everything shook. There was a rattle and before either of you could end the glaring at each other, a paint can toppled over and poured deep blue onto Severus’ hair. Your mouth fell open as the paint dripped down his face and stained his clothes, pooling around him on the floor.</p><p>“I’m sorry!” he quickly reached for his wand but knocked over the pencil holder instead.</p><p>His wand along with most of your writing tools rolled off the desk and onto the puddle of blue paint, splattering on your socks. You stepped away and looked around for something to use as Severus wiped away paint from his eyes and mouth.</p><p>“Hold on, I’ll get something,” you exited your bedroom and opened the closet out in the hall. You groaned, seeing the tower of white towels, “Severus, come out here!”</p><p>“But the paint – ”</p><p>“It’s alright,” you opened the door to your bathroom and turned on all the lights.</p><p>You started the shower and got the temperature just how you liked it as Severus’ sloshy footsteps neared. He held his head low, trying to keep the paint from entering his eyes, and held his hands as bowls under his hair, trying to minimize his damage.</p><p>“(Y/n), I’m so sorry.”</p><p>“Severus,” you went for a hug but couldn’t find anywhere he wasn’t covered in paint, “It’s ok… Just take a shower and… You’ll have to go home for new clothes.”</p><p>“I don’t need a shower I’ll just rinse out my hair. The paint only got on my shirt mostly, not so much on my trousers. I can wash my shirt and wait in here till it dries.”</p><p>“And your neck. Your hair needs to be shampooed, not just rinsed,” you took out your favorite bottle and set it down. “Let me help you.”</p><p>“No, I can do it alone,” he stepped back and tried bending over awkwardly but more paint splattered to the floor from his shirt, making him wince.</p><p>“You can at least take the shirt off. Its covered in paint. I can leave if you want.”</p><p>He nodded and before you closed the door you saw him struggle to get the shirt without releasing all the pooled paint in his hands. He huffed, irritated and looked up to see you still standing there with your hand on your hip.</p><p>“Are you sure you don’t want my help?”</p><p>He stood very still and didn’t say anything. You rolled your eyes and stepped back in, leaving the door open. You started lifting up his shirt and pulled it over his head. He stayed hunched over, trying to keep the paint from dripping onto the floor. You dropped his wet shirt and pressed your hand to your mouth, trying not to gasp at the yellow and blue bruises all over his skin.</p><p>He shifted his weight and sniffed, “It’s from falling on the stairs.”</p><p>“Falling?”</p><p>“Yeah. I fell.”</p><p>Before you could question him further, he bent over the bathtub and turned the knob, cutting the water flow to the shower head and redirecting it to the tap bellow. He dunked his hair under the roaring tap and ran his fingers through his hair hard and fast, as if trying to rip the paint away.</p><p>“Stop, stop. Let me,” you slid your socks off and swung a leg over the tub and leaned over him. The water was freezing so you adjusted the temperature and began carefully moving your hands through his hair.</p><p>His shoulders were tense the entire time under the water as the paint drained from his hair. It was quiet, bordering on awkward, all while there were a million things you wanted to say, to ask him, held back by the fear he would rather leave your home than talk.</p><p>The water was clear finally, so you decided to go through with the next step of pouring shampoo on the back of his head. You started by massaging it in as the bubbles foamed and expanded. You took sections of his hair and smoothed the bubbles over them until you were sure every last strand was covered in shampoo. His neck was still blue so you rubbed shampoo in small circles, feeling him shiver under your touch. His shoulders sagged after a few seconds and he let out a rough breath.</p><p>“Close your eyes, just in case,” you whispered.</p><p>He pushed his head back under the running tap and you went through the same steps as with the paint, gently rinsing his hair free of soap. You didn’t mind the intense smell you normally liked on your own hair, but you wished he had brought his own shampoo, whichever one he used while in Hogwarts. It didn’t have any smell, which meant when you breathed him in during late night meetups, it was all him you were taking in.</p><p>You bit your lip and breathed out, “Severus – ”</p><p>“I swear. These bruises are from falling down my stairs,” his voice was quieter, gentler than before.</p><p>You stood up and let him rinse his face and neck while you got the towels. You came back and closed the tap, dropping an open towel on his head and sat behind him. Before he could protest you pulled him into you and got to work drying his hair yourself. He crossed his arms and relaxed, leaning back as you twisted the towel and propped it up on his head.</p><p>“(Y/n)…”</p><p>“Severus… You know I care about you, right? A lot. And you’ve done a lot of nice things for me since our first kiss and I notice everything and appreciate you so much. Even the smallest things make me so happy… I promise I don’t take your actions the same way as when my mom tries to give me gifts.”</p><p>He turned and snaked an arm under your waist, holding you close, “I know… I really like you… I couldn’t believe when you owled me so soon, begging to see me… and you invite me over to spend three whole days with you…” he pressed his face into your chest and let out a sob, “And then I got mad and ruined it all… If you want me to leave, I’ll go.”</p><p>As uncomfortable as the position was on your hip and back, pressed against the cold tile and under-sink cabinets, you wrapped your leg and other arm around him like a makeshift cocoon, trying to hold him together as if he was unraveling before your eyes.</p><p>“You didn’t ruin anything. I still want you to stay… actually I wish you never had to go back, so I could keep you here with me forever and all to myself.”</p><p>He sat up and pulled the towel away, letting his black tendrils fall over his face. You could see tears glimmering in the corner of his eyes, making the darkness of them that much deeper by contrast. His eyes were intense and bore into yours, making you let out a breath of barely contained excitement. He slid his hand across your cheek and rested it on the back of your head, pulling you in to him. His lips were warm and hungry to explore your own.</p><p>“I’d stay here with you forever,” he whispered and pressed into your lips harder than before, needing your comfort.</p><p>You felt your mind race with ideas and the thoughts of what you wanted most in that moment. You could feel him pulling you in closer, gripping your thighs and attempting to drag you down so he could pin you back like he loved to do.</p><p>Severus grunted and pulled away, looking over his shoulder at your cat, perched on him. You laughed and snapped your fingers at Rocco until he jumped down from your boyfriend’s back. You both stood reluctantly and walked into your bedroom. The night was still going on outside, despite the commotion inside, and the energy gathered from your nap earlier was all spent.</p><p>Severus yawned but got to work on cleaning up the mess that he’d made. While he cleaned your bedroom you took care of the bathroom mess, quietly scolding Rocco for ruining a very heated moment. Rocco meowed and left, leaving you wiping down the floor all alone.</p><p>You walked back in, some time later, and held out his soaked and stained shirt, “Um… I’m sure if I put it in the wash it’ll be better?”</p><p>Severus was curled up on your bed next to Rocco, snoring lightly. You smiled and dropped his shirt, walked over to the bed and joined him on some much-needed rest. You were about to close your eyes when you noticed something small written on your wall in deep blue paint. It was your and Severus’ name surrounded by a heart. You smiled and pressed into him, excited for the two remaining days ahead.</p>
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